Frames

I've been collecting ornate picture frames for a couple months now, with a Pinterest project in mind. After my great garage sale haul last week, I had enough to get started.

I started off by priming all the frames because they were all different colors and finishes. I let them dry overnight in the middle of my living room:

The biggest frame in the photo (upper right) was a roadside rescue! The rest I paid somewhere between 50 cents and $3 each for. The $2/$3 ones were more expensive because they were actually framed prints with glass, and one was a mirror. 

The next day I gave them each two coats of paint. The paints I used were the leftover sample jars I purchased when I trying to choose wall colors! So not only do the colors all coordinate well with my decor, but it was also a good use of already purchased materials!

Again I let these dry overnight, particularly because it has been so humid lately. Today I finally cleaned up the drop cloth from the middle of my living room and set to work arranging the frames in a pattern on the floor. 

As you can see, Lily wanted to be involved but not actually help at all.  

I hung all of these today on the wall behind my dining table, and I think it looks fabulous. 

I'm very happy with how these turned out and I think I have just enough! I'm definitely running out of useable wall space now! :-)

Saturday Recap - Garage Sales

What an awesome yard sale day! First of all, I got to hang out with some really fun people, which was nice because usually I garage-sale alone. Started off at a sale in Chester that had a bunch of antiques and vintage pieces. I can't believe my luck:

I just wrote this morning that I was looking for a phone for my phone table!! And it's in such good condition!! Now I really gotta start my table. 

Found a few other awesome things too. I got this little round tray which appears to be some kind of souvenir of visiting NJ.. It needs to be cleaned up. I'm not really sure where I will put it but I really liked it:

I picked up this lamp shaped like a spinning wheel for my mom since she is a spinner. It needs to be rewired and it needs a shade. I thought I could fix it all up and save it for a Christmas gift. 

Last thing I got at this sale, I really am not sure what I will do with. But as bunch of former Catholic college girls shopping together, I just couldn't leave this behind!

Yes, that is a Flying Nun lunchbox with matching thermos! It's really dirty, but I'll clean it up. 

After that sale we went straight to a nearby barn sale, which was not a disappointment. The sale was huge - just kind of overcrowded (with people and merchandise.) I found this little Christmas candleholder from PartyLite which matches others that I have (also from garage sales):

I don't think I mentioned a project I've been collecting materials for.. I want to paint a bunch of ornate wooden frames to hang in a grouping on the wall. I had three already, and then found these in the barn sale:

Nice right? They will be tucked away in the closet with the rest until I'm ready for that project. 

All in all, spent $27 on garage sale items today. Well worth it. 

Handmade Wall Art

Tonight I dropped my roadside treasure at my parents' house, where it will reside in their garage until I refinish it. Don't judge a book by its cover... It looks rough now, but think of the potential!

Awhile back on Pinterest I was searching for ideas for making large, inexpensive wall art. Something that came up quite a few times was the fabric wall collage. The first one I did right away for my living room:

The second one I completed last night for a wall in my bedroom. Instead of canvases like above, the fabric in this collage was stretched across embroidery hoops. 

I've been collecting the hoops for a couple months from flea markets and garage sales, and a few were given by my mom, who no longer uses them for their actual purpose. Over the weekend I dug through the remnant tables and bins at Fabricland and found all of the fabrics. A few of the remnants are pretty large - up to a yard and a half! - which leaves me a nice amount of fabric for some other future project. All in all, the fabrics cost $13 and I think all together I spent about $7 on the hoops between the different sales. 

To start, I framed the fabric where I most liked the design placement and trimmed the edge to about 1 inch around. 

Using a glue gun, I applied hot glue along the inner rim and glued down all the edges so it would be neat. This is not really necessary if you think you might use those hoops again in the future or might want to change out the fabric seasonally, but I chose to use glue to keep them sturdy. 

I repeated this process on all of the hoops. 

Having tried to hang these in the past and realizing they will fly off the wall (and frighten the cat) if it's particularly windy outside and my windows are open, I tried a different approach. I used a combination of a single nail to hang each one, plus some clear, removable & restickable wall adhesive. I am hoping even when windy, the adhesive will keep them from flying away. 

I thought it would be a good idea to lay out my design arrangement on the bed before starting to hang them, but Lily had other ideas:

After removing the cat I was able to finish hanging the hoops, and I really think it turned out nicely.

A design like this is versatile because I will be able to add on to the collage any time I want to. I'll remain on the hunt for wooden embroidery hoops so when the mood strikes, I'll be ready. 

Shutter Repurposing

I have a good project for you today! I acquired a box of ten small shutters two weeks ago at a yard sale. Actually to be honest, I purchased two of the shutters at the yard sale and then was seriously remorseful that I didn't buy the whole box. I'm a little embarrassed to say I tracked down the homeowner through a friend and retrieved the rest of the shutters the following week. Totally worth it. 

Shutter project #1 used four shutters, which were completely brand new, unfinished wood. The final project was to be two little shelves to hold some of my favorite things. I started off by forming the shelf shape with some Gorilla wood glue and nails, and used some metal corner reinforcements to stabilize them. 

Then I began painting them using a white chalk paint. I have heard so much about chalk paint and really wanted to try it. It's claim to fame is that you don't need to prep your surface before applying the paint, and it's really easy to distress. 

I found a small jar of the chalk paint at Home Depot, and it was barely enough for this project. 

I wound up needing three coats of the paint to get the coverage I wanted. Shutters have a lot of little nooks and crannies, so this wasn't my favorite part of the project. 

Once completed I let them dry overnight. Today I finished this up by attaching hangers to the back and distressing the finish. To distress I just used a coarse sandpaper block to rub away some of the paint, focusing on the edges and corners. I wanted them to look weathered, but still attractive. I'm pretty happy with the final product! 

I was hoping to find some decorative metal brackets to use as support on each side of the shelves, but I had trouble finding something small enough. If I wind up finding them, it will be easy enough to take them down and attach them. 

Still have six more shutters to play with in the future! 

Side note: this morning I found a roadside treasure I am so excited about. I've been on the look-out for a gossip bench/telephone table ever since I saw one in an antique store a few months ago. If you're not familiar with it, a gossip bench is basically a chair and side table combined. Sort of looks like one of those one-armed desks in college lecture halls. Prior to cordless phones and cell phones, the house phone would be stationed at this bench and this is where you would sit to make your phone calls. Most of them have a couple little shelves, which I presume would have been used for a phone book and some note paper and pens. 

The point is, I found one!! I didn't get a good picture of it yet, but I will soon. Right now it's in the back of my car. Aside from desperately needing a paint job and reupholstered seat cushion, it's in really good shape! Didn't see any serious knicks, and everything seems intact. I have to figure out where it will live in my home and then decide on colors.  That's a future post. 

By the way, just want to say thanks for being interested in my blog! I'm really impressed by the number of page views it's gotten within a week. ❤️

Saturday Recap

Today was not the best garage sale day. I didn't find any good project material, but I did get a few Halloween and Christmas decorations for two bucks a piece!

I spent the rest of the day painting my bedroom. I think it came out really pretty - but I still need to rehang my artwork and finish making my curtains, so before/after photos will have to wait. Instead, here are photos of my living/dining room and kitchen, which I finished painting and decorating last weekend.

Before - the week I moved in:

After:

Paint colors are Glidden Oolong Tea and Dill.

I don't have any before photos of the kitchen, but here it is currently after last week's paint job:

Paint color is Glidden Enamelware. 

I'm really pleased with how cozy my apartment is feeling now!

Garage Sale Hauls

Spring and Summer weekends mean garage sales around here! My routine has been to get up early on Saturday to hunt around for good sales, keeping my eye out for estate sales or things like church rummage sales. Sundays have been spent doing some roadside rescue during my hometown's "bulk collection" period. Bulk collection in a nice little suburb means people put pretty nice stuff out at the curb because they don't want it anymore.  I've scored some great treasures the past few weeks!

This had to have been my best haul so far... 

Everything in this photo was free except for that super large embroidery hoop which was $3.  So far, I cleaned up the barrel piece on the left and use it to store some crochet WIPs. I also scraped off a bunch of chipping paint from the window frame, and I have plans for what I will use it for. The hoop I'm holding onto for a a project I can do once my bedroom is painted, and the frame has been joined by two other ornate frames waiting to be created into something. 

Picked up this basket last week for fifty cents. Not sure what I can use it for, but I feel like it could have some kind of purpose hanging like cubbies. 

I got a box of small shutters at another sale last week. Some are brand new unfinished wood, and a few are painted white. I found some fantastic ideas on Pinterest for projects using shutters, and that's something I'm really looking forward to working on. No photo yet, they are tucked away in a closet. 

I found this dough box end table a couple months back at a school rummage sale in town.  I needed an end table, so this has been utilitarian since I got it home. I definitely plan to revamp this piece, but I'm undecided on paint vs stain, and what colors. I think it could be something really special. Ideas?